Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Tuesday 23rd October 2018. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through EV story today so you don’t have to.

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

9 days until Halloween, 30 days until Thanksgiving and 64 days until Christmas Day. Happy Holidays Everyone! 😉

A quick numbers update, via Matthias Schmidt on Twitter: “BMW 2-series PHEV came close to registering more than diesel version in domestic market. Close on every 4th BMW 2-series registered in Germany in September was a PHEV with 752 units”.

Source: @auto_schmidt

There’s been a fair bit of coverage today of the news I brought you yesterday about the Audi e-tron Quattro SUV being delayed because of late changes to the software, which need to be approved. I know it’s only another 4 week delay but these old dogs really don’t want to see their EVs earlier than 2020 do they! That’s exactly when the new EU emission rules come into play and OEM’s want to stack up any demand so they don’t ‘waste’ sales now.

ELECTRIC TCR SERIES TO LAUNCH IN 2020

Great news from Motorsport.com about the confirmed launch of ETCR: “…the electric touring car category will launch as a series in 2020. E TCR was formally launched on Sunday at Barcelona – which is hosting the season finale of TCR’s flagship regional series, TCR Europe – with WSC revealing a standalone series will be created for 2020. Cupra, SEAT’s performance brand, is currently the only manufacturer to have developed a car to E TCR regulations, which will utilise the same “chassis concept” currently used in TCR. Its e-Racer, which is powered by two twin-electric motors located over the car’s rear axle and is capable of delivering a peak power level of 680 bhp, was presented at Barcelona.” writes Jack Cozens.

WSC head Marcello Lotti said: “”In the wake of the global success achieved by TCR and being aware of the automotive market’s current trend towards a new and responsible mobility, two years ago WSC Technology embarked on this ambitious project with the aim of educating the motorsport community in making contact with these new technologies that represent the future reality. It is already attracting the interest of different car manufacturers that also regard it as a tool to restore the role of motorsport as a platform for research and development that can transfer experience and innovations to the standard products”

Following another F1 race over the weekend i had on in the background but only half watched, i thought it was a good time to recap on Formula E. It starts on December 15th in Saudi Arabia, with more F1 drivers adding star power to the paddock, new tracks which should be better than previous street circuits and more power from the cars.

The Gen 2 cars (aka Batman cars) are officially called the SRT05e chassis and again all teams run the same chassis, but with more opportunity to apply their own engineering. The big difference to F1 is the most of the aero comes from a large diffuser rather than large wings, which should mean cars can follow each other closely and overtake. 0-60mph is 2.8 seconds from 335bhp. And although yes, a Tesla is quicker to 60, they will accelerate up to 174mph. In fact the Tesla Model S P100DL developed for the Electric GT championship was clocked 0-60pm in 2 seconds but that championship is facing delays whilst they wait for more funding.

Back to to FE. The battery technology comes from McLaren now and yes, the car swaps are a thing consigned to the history books.

I’ve seen one up close and they are smaller than they look – somehow. They are 5.1metres long and 1.77meteres wide.

THIEVES STEAL A TESLA MODEL S BY HACKING THE ENTRY FOB

“A Tesla owner who recorded thieves stealing his Model S by hacking the passive entry system has published the video on YouTube so we can all watch (and learn). It shows the crooks using a tablet to apparently capture the passive signal from his keyfob, then using the data to open the vehicle. Amusingly, the pair didn’t drive off as quickly as they could have simply because they couldn’t figure out how to detach the charging cable (hint: there’s a button).” reports @SteveTDent for Engadget: “Tesla has recently implemented features to deter passive entry theft, but the owner sheepishly admitted he didn’t use them. Namely, he failed to activate the “PIN to drive” feature that requires a further code before you can drive off. He also left passive entry — which opens the car when you walk up to it with the fob — enabled, even though it was parked outside. “

“Electric vehicle owners in Australia will soon have access to a network of EV fast-chargers that will enable up to 400km of range in just 15 minutes. Australian start-up Chargefox has successfully raised $15 million to establish a network of fast-chargers around the country, powered exclusively by renewable energy.”

The company, co-founded by JetCharge, says it will roll out the stations at 21 locations initially, headed by sites in Euroa and Barnawartha North, in Victoria.

Chargefox chief executive Marty Andrews: “Chargefox is committed to sustainable mobility. Our network of ultra-rapid charging stations will play a significant part in improving the infrastructure of this country and remove one of the major barriers that limits the adoption of EVs. The charging stations will enable all modern EV drivers to confidently drive between Australia’s major cities. Chargefox has a vision that one day 100 per cent of road transport will be powered by renewable energy and from day one our ultra-rapid chargers will be accessible to all Australian drivers.”

Here in the UK there has been a rush on buying EV’s since we heard the free grant was dropping from £4500 to £3500 when the current limit was reached.

“Following last week’s announcement the rate would be slashed, thousands of buyers flocked to snap up the last remaining grants. The new, lower rate for the Plug-in Car Grant has been brought forward and implemented early after “exceptional demand” caused the older, more generous grant to run out.” according to Auto Express: “The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) recently confirmed that the £2,500 grant for plug-in hybrids would end on 9 November, with the grant for EVs reducing from £4,500 to £3,500. It was also confirmed that the 3,000 Category 1 grants for EVs, and 6,000 Category 2 and 3 subsidies for PHEVs would remain available up to 9 November. However, the DfT have now announced that all of those grants have been given away following a massive spike in sales, meaning the new, stricter rates that weren’t meant to be introduced until November 9 are now in effect. Approximately 1,000 PHEVs and EVs have been sold each day since the cut was announced, compared with around 329 per day in 2017 – equating to a three-fold increase.”

“Inadequate on-site charging remains a major barrier to deploying electric commercial vehicles, according to a study of more than 200 operators by UPS and Greenbiz, which was carried out earlier this summer.” according to a report today by Van Fleet World: “UPS pointed out that less than half of respondents are working with government bodies to help shape policy in favour of electrification. The logistics company said its collaborations with manufacturers, government and utilities had all been helpful when adding new vehicles to its fleet.”

I would add that the infrastructure today is better than a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. Remember when we all got mobile phones for the first time, you used to look where you nearest mast was? In the 90s we had a network called Orange and I used that because signal was good in my house, but rubbish for Vodafone. These days you buy a mobile phone and just expect all the networks to have great coverage wherever you are. That changed in just a few short years, and it’s not like electricity, which is fairly ubiquitous.

TESLA SURPASSES MERCEDES-BENZ TO BECOME MOST FOLLOWED CAR BRAND GLOBALLY

“Tesla has just surpassed Mercedes-Benz to become the world’s most followed car brand on Twitter. The Elon Musk led company is known for manufacturing all-electric cars and has overturned German car brand to become the most followed car brand in the world.”

Does it matter? Maybe. Maybe not! But it’s interesting to remind ourselves how much public engagement there is with Tesla.

Josh Atchley on Twitter asked this to Elon Musk: “Can you put a dog mode on the Tesla Model 3. Where the music plays and the ac is on, with a display on screen saying “I’m fine my owner will be right back”?”

And Elon replied, simply YES.

TechRadar says: “The temperature-regulating feature, called Cabin Overheat, was pushed out to Tesla vehicles via a software update in June. When the car is parked, Cabin Overheat ensures that the temperature inside the car doesn’t exceed a preset limit (a rather toasty 40C by default). However, despite Musk’s positive response, this is meant for safety rather than convenience – so your animal will be safe if you accidentally leave it in the back seat for a few minutes, not for keeping them comfortable over long periods. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) advises never leaving a dog alone in a parked car, and notes that doing so is illegal in several states.”

And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…

Putting range aside, because everyone wants more range what do you feel is lacking in today’s EVs? Perhaps it’s design, options, a choice of models, a lack of education, cost or even social pressure? We would love to know what it really is that’s stopping people from switching.

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